List of demands that Lionel Messi put forward before Barcelona’s contract renewal in 2020

List of demands that Lionel Messi put forward before Barcelona’s contract renewal in 2020

Lionel Messi at Barcelona

Back in 2021, the unimaginable happened as the event of Lionel Messi parting ways with his childhood club FC Barcelona took place. The day made everyone emotional and took them aback for a moment, as no one ever thought that the Argentine would leave his Spanish club. It was tragic and unhealthy for the sports to watch their idol cry.

However, the list of the player’s demands came across recently that has got the media’s eye, the demands for the contract renewal in July 2020 were:
• €10m signing bonus
• €10,000 release clause
• A private box at Camp Nou for his and Suarez’s family.
• A salary increase in 2022 with a 3% interest rate to compensate for deferred salary.

A signing bonus is understandable and justified for a player of his stature, but what has caught the most attention is the €10,000 release clause, which even a regular cameraman could afford to pay, a lesser amount here means the easy chances of him getting released during the contractual period.

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The reasons behind Lionel Messi’s departure from Barcelona

Lionel Messi in his goodbye speech at Barcelona

The club in a statement said, in no uncertain terms, that the club and player wanted to do a deal — reports in recent weeks stated that Messi, who became a free agent on June 30, was prepared to take a 50 percent reduction in salary to make it happen — but league regulations made it an impossibility.

To meet that requirement after a huge reduction in revenues during the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Catalan club entered that summer offseason needing to shed well over $200 million in salaries just to sign the Argentine. But the limited transfer activity meant that they were nowhere close to that figure and the club got in debt of €1.35bn.

YouTube video

So technically, it’s not La Liga’s fault, but FC Barcelona’s failure to comply with La Liga regulations, following years of overspending and the financial ramifications of COVID-19. The real reasons are nothing but blame games between La Liga and Barcelona.

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